Acceptance.of losing


Before you ask the above picture has nothing to do with this blog but no way was I leading off with a picture of Romney. And the topic has nothing to do with Obama. But it does occur to me in the Pirates of the Caribbean series that the pirates were good losers and the Brits weren't.

My childhood was a lot about becoming a good loser or being good enough to not lose and wise enough to choose my contests. I had for a brother the absolute worst of winners. So it did not help me learning to be gracious at losing. I am not sure how many Monopoly boards Dad threw away before I learned to never play that game again. I am not sure how but I know my brother cheated. And I gave up tennis when I discovered it was never wise to go on a tennis date. Try as she might mother never convinced me of the wisdom of losing at anything to please a man.

But I digress. This blog is not about my sportsmanship or even solely about Romney's lack there of. Though he is certainly a prime example. But about the fact that more and more people seem unable to just accept what happens and go on. Be it in politics or on the football field or in a marriage breakup nobody seems willing to accept the facts and shake hands. More and more men headed for divorce courts seem more willing to kill their estranged mates especially if pregnant. And football players are getting more and more vicious on the field. Oh, what about NASCAR last week with Jeff Gordon crashing deliberately into Clint Boyer? Or the wife that shot her husband because he voted for Obama?

We all seem to require someone to blame for what is generally our fault. So this week as Romney rattled off an endless stream of why he lost: Hurricane Sandy, Obama giving Gifts to the entitled, single women only thought about abortion, liberal news, everyone of any color but white, etc. of course he was joined by Rush and the GOP and Fox News. And no where in any of the analysis was anything said about his remarks about the 47%, or all the qualifiers to rape his minions came up with, or that he told so many lies he could not keep track of any of them.

No where did anyone say, "Hey, we blew it." And if the Republican party is going to reform itself as a viable political entity it has to get to that point. Acceptance is the answer. Until you accept what happened you cannot change your strategy. Your only hope of winning if you do not know why you lost is to cheat. Or drive your race car into the side of theirs at 100 plus miles per hour.

Hey, losing isn't the end of the world. But not admitting why you lost could be for someone. Or some party.

Comments

  1. ShaynacwingsNovember 15, 2012 at 1:05 PM

    Great post Annette and I agree with all you have said. Although I live on the other side of the planet I am very pleased Obama won.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ien in the KootenaysNovember 27, 2012 at 4:30 PM

    Great insight. I hear you on the monopoly. I am a good loser, but got quite when I found out, 50 or so years later, that my brother had always systematically cheated.

    ReplyDelete

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